With virtually no chance of getting the job of European Commission President, Greece’s major opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras nonetheless pushed himself as a pro-European in a debate with other candidates in Brussels.
“What happened in Greece is not a success story but a social tragedy that shouldn’t be repeated anywhere in Europe,” Tsipras said in a shot at Prime Minister and New Democracy Conservative leader Antonis Samaras, who has said he’s creating a “success story,” and recovery from a crushing economic crisis.
Samaras – backed by leading European politicians – imposed more harsh austerity measures on the orders of international lenders, creating a record unemployment rate and deep poverty, a factor Tsipras used to try to hammer his opponents ahead of the May 25 elections for the European Parliament that show SYRIZA is leading in Greece, which has municipal elections a week earlier.
Taking part in his first and only debate with center-right and former Eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker; socialist Martin Schulz, who is the European Parliament President; liberal Guy Verhofstadt and Green co-candidate Ska Keller, Tsipras used the platform to attack austerity in a bid to reach audiences in the other 27 countries of the European Union.
“We need to end austerity and regain democracy,” he said. “We need to get rid of the debt problem by calling for a European debt conference like the one for Germany in 1953.”
The President is selected by the leaders of the EU countries and not elected but the heavy favorite will come from whichever party wins the most seats in the elections for the European Parliament, largely seen as an irrelevant tool. The President’s job was diluted when the EU leaders several years ago created a second Presidential position.
Tsipras argued that austerity policies in the European Union were the main cause for the rise of nationalist and far-right parties.
“There are causes and responsibilities for euroskepticism and this is austerity and it is the fault of those who started it,” he said, pointing toward Schulz, Juncker and Verhofstadt.
Tsipras tangled with Verhofstadt over the role of banks in creating Greece’s crisis, which several times threatened to push the country out of the Eurozone and jeopardize the 18-nation financial bloc and the euro.
Verhofstadt said that wild overspending by Greek governments and state-run banks were to blame and that they funded New Democracy, SYRIZA and the PASOK Socialists.
Tsipras acknowledged state banks, which had to be recapitalized with 50 billion euros, were a problem but that it was broader than that.
“There was a clientelist state in Greece that was supported by the EPP and the PES,” he said referring to the conservative and socialist parties in the European Parliament who went along with the big pay cuts, tax hikes, slashed pensions and worker firings that decimated Greek society. But he said private banks were a problem too, citing the case of Ireland.
Tsipras argued again that austerity had failed Greece and was a pox on Europe. He said a better answer was for Europe-wide debt reduction. Samaras has also said he wants to restructure Greece’s debt.
Tsipras has said if he comes to power he would seek to revise the terms of 240 billion euros in two bailouts from the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) or default, making EU leaders queasy at the prospect.
“If we don’t finish with austerity, we’ll never solve the problem of unemployment,” said Tsipras, the only candidate not to speak in English, a language in which he speaks falteringly, further hindering his chances to win the position where the Commission President makes frequent appearances with international leaders.
Juncker, 59, who led Greek rescue talks as head of the Eurozone in 2010, snapped back. “I did what I could to make Greece stay in the euro. I will never accept the charge that we lacked in solidarity,” he said.
The outcome of the European elections in Greece is being closely watched by financial markets for any sign of growing political risk in the country, which remains dependent on the Troika despite the sale last month of a sovereign bond for the first time since 2010.
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